


Reaching Up To You

by sebastian2017



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22044709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Steve's always been fond of kissing Bucky's head, even when it took some effort to actually reach that high.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 79
Collections: Stucky Bingo 2019





	Reaching Up To You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for I3 of the Stucky Bingo 2019: Forehead Kisses  
> (also my first fill despite sitting on this card since summer haha!! <3) 
> 
> cw: war mention, slightly bittersweet ending if you consider what follows in canon

Steve had never really acted his height. Just about anyone who had known him for more than two seconds knew that about him. There was all the picking fights, of course, but beyond that, Steve had just always stubbornly wanted to go around the world like he was ten feet tall. Bucky sees it all first hand while they live together. He wouldn’t ask for help getting things off high shelves or use the lowest shelves of their pantry, since he’d rather climb up on tip toes than have Bucky bent over. It was…. Well, truth be told, when he was out fighting, it was mostly a pain in the ass, but with all the domestic things around the house, it was just endearing more often than not. 

Bucky’s favorite part of every day is coming home from work, when Stevie would drag over a stepping stool without comment so he could stand at just about Bucky’s height and lean forward to press a welcome back kiss to his forehead. And like clockwork, Bucky would always pick him up off the stool and plop him down on the couch for a quick cuddle, ignoring Steve’s complaints about getting picked up. 

“One day you’re gonna trip off that step and then imagine how sad I’m gonna feel, all alone in this place ‘cause my best guy broke his neck in the stupidest way possible,” Bucky murmurs, placing a few kisses along Steve’s jaw. 

“I dunno what step you’re talking ‘bout, that’s just how big I am, Buck,” Steve insists. 

Bucky just laughs, because he’s not going to pick a fight with the most stubborn guy he knows this side of the Hudson. “Yeah. Okay. Still, don’t slip.” 

“Won’t.” 

\-----

It’s a few, horrible, painful… weeks? Days? Bucky isn’t sure, because it’s felt like forever that he got captured. Bad enough in any circumstance, but the entire time, Bucky just keeps thinking to himself that the very last time he and Steve saw each other in person, it had ended with some stupid argument instead of wrapped up in each other’s arms in their drafty little apartment like it should have. He’d known the double date idea had been stupid, but, well… Bucky had really just wanted to go out with him one last time and having a couple of girls there made it easier. 

But instead of some nice time together, it had just been just another needless argument about the war and now that was going to be Steve’s last memory of Bucky because he’d gone and gotten himself captured and now he was going to die on some stupid god damn fucking Nazi experimentation table. It’s everything he’d promised Steve ten times over he wouldn’t do before he left.

When someone who looks and sounds and smells like Steve but sure doesn’t feel like him, Bucky is absolutely sure he’s hallucinating. But then the hallucination bends down to brush a quick kiss to his forehead while hauling him up off the table and… oh. That really is Stevie, isn’t it? He’d recognize Steve’s lips anywhere in the world, in any circumstance. 

Right on cue, he mumbles, “It’s me. It’s Steve.” 

“Steve…” Bucky repeats, grinning like a tired old fool up at him. And for the first time since getting shipped out here, he starts to think that maybe they’ll be okay after all.

\----

Steve explains once they’re back in safe territory and Bucky gets filled in on everything he missed. Or, well, he explains and Bucky nods along, pretending that any of what he’s just heard makes sense. Secret government operations? Genius scientists? Super serums? Stevie growing half a foot and gaining about a hundred pounds of muscle in a matter of minutes? It’s absurd. Bucky would expect it in some terrible comic strip. If he hadn’t been swept away from certain death by this new, big version of Steve, he would absolutely not believe any of it. 

But here they are. Apparently living in the sort of world where some scientists could shoot you up with a magical serum to turn you into a perfect giant supersoldier. Maybe he really did die on that table and this is just a strange sort of afterlife. He won’t complain. It’s got Steve in it which is just about all he could ever want from any sort of life. 

He and Steve are holed up in their tent, looking over maps for their next mission, as though they don’t already have this whole region of Europe practically memorized. Really, all they do these days is camp out in the saddest and darkest corners of Europe. The tent is starting to feel almost like a luxury, which… that’s a bit sad, isn’t it? But he can’t think of it too much or a backlog of exhaustion hits and - oh. Too late. Bucky turns away from their work and stifles a yawn against his shoulder. 

“Getting tired there, Buck?” Steve asks, glancing over at him. 

He rolls his eyes a bit. “Yup. You caught me. Very perceptive.” 

“This can wait until morning. Get some sleep,” Steve insists. He stands up to put things away and then tugs Bucky over to the cot. Before pushing him down to sleep, eternal mother hen that he is, he leans down to kiss his forehead. “Sleep well, you big goof.” 

“Not going to slip now, huh?” Bucky murmurs, grinning up at him as he sits down to take his boots off. 

Steve just laughs and throws a boot towards his head before moving to lay down next to him. If anyone comes by, they’ll just explain that it’s cold around the Austrian Alps and they needed more warmth than the blankets could provide. It’s not as though people ask many questions out here on the front lines. Bucky can think of a lot of ways this could be better, but… But for now? For now, Bucky’s glad they’re here. He’d be glad to the ends of the Earth if it’s with Steve by him.

**Author's Note:**

> and the the alps mission went perfectly fine and they lived happily ever after duh


End file.
